South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday as investors picked up tech and auto shares following overnight gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index edged up 4.4 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,633.84 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7 percent, as investors looked forward to positive first-quarter corporate earnings reports this week.

Tech and auto shares gained ground, with chip giant Samsung Electronics adding 0.13 percent and top automaker Hyundai Motor rising 1.84 percent.

Financial stocks continued to add momentum from the previous session, with Kookmin Financial jumping 2.3 percent.

In contrast, steel and battery shares traded lower, with top steel maker Posco Holdings down 0.25 percent and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution sliding 1.19 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,378.95 won against the greenback, up 0.25 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)